


every wish a way home

by OverTheMoonShine



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fairytales and Adventures, Home for Wayward Children, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Urban Fantasy, kind of, some angst - maybe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-04-23 11:44:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19150366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OverTheMoonShine/pseuds/OverTheMoonShine
Summary: For as long as stories have been told, children and youth have always been whisked away to faraway lands on adventurous quests. It's always fun, until you tumble through the doorway back to the real world and find yourself stranded in reality. That's where the Home for Wayward Children comes in, a safe haven for youths trying to find a doorway back home, whatever dimension it may be.Minhyuk is looking for a way back to Water Way, where he was the Whale Prince; and Kihyun isn't sure what he's looking for.(or: 'and then they were room-mates', but Minhyuk is legit Royalty and Kihyun is just Suffering)





	every wish a way home

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the [Wayward Children series](https://www.goodreads.com/series/165484-wayward-children)

Once upon a time, there lived a Drowned Boy, who didn’t know he was special - didn’t even have an inkling of how important he was - until he tumbled into a pond and found himself washed up on the shores of Water Way.

“The prophecy says that when the Drowned Boy returns,” whispered the Wife to her Husband, as they let the mysterious boy they had picked up off the sandy beach rest in their small cottage. He should be pale and clammy from the time spent unconscious in the water, but his cheeks are pink and rosy. He shouldn’t be alive, but he is, his chest rising and falling with every breath. “Water Way will once again be returned to its people.”

And so Water Way did, with the Drowned Boy leading the rebellion, his soul-linked killer whale, Bebe, by his side. 

“To the Whale Prince!” cheered the crowd, as the Drowned Boy - now Whale Prince - took his place on the seashell throne. As he did, Bebe let out a deep whistle, her joy resonating through the people, her joy echoed in the Whale Prince’s large smile, as wide a beam as the ocean was deep. “To keeping Water Way safe once more!”

But as every fairy-tale that begins with  _ once upon a time  _ does, the story eventually has to reach its inevitable  _ The End _ , and the Whale Prince tumbled back through the pond weeds he had been entangled in from the very start of his adventure, and finds himself back in Seoul.

He finds himself back to being the very ordinary, very wet Lee Minhyuk, who’s gasping for air after being pulled out of a pond by an anxious passer-by.

And that is where our story begins.

-

_ Home for Wayward Children  _ is what the sign reads, and Minhyuk would like to dispute every single word on that sign - well, apart from  _ for _ , because he can’t really fault that preposition for its existence. 

Firstly, he’s  _ not  _ a child. He’s turning 19 in barely half a year’s time, and that makes him almost an adult in the eyes of the law. What that means is that he just needs to survive 6 months in this institution, before his admittedly well-meaning but clueless parents technically have no more control over him. Once that happens, he can dive into as many lakes or ponds or oceans as he needs to in order to find the way back.

Secondly, there’s nothing wayward about him. Apart from his hair, which sticks out at weird angles when he wakes up in the morning (but that’s nothing a quick swim can’t cure - there are little things that a quick dip in the salty waters of the ocean can’t cure).

And lastly, this building is not  _ Home _ , and nothing, not a single place, in this plane will ever come close to feeling like home. As much as his parents are hoping that he’ll wake up from his daydreams, there’s nothing that will keep him from looking for a way back to his real home, where he knows he truly belongs.

“We’ll see you soon, okay?” his mother says, as she hugs him goodbye. Her eyes are watery, and Minhyuk feels a pang at the sight of the tears that are threatening to fall. His parents had to go through a week without knowing where he was, convinced that he was missing or something worse, before his body had been dragged out of a pond, just a 10 minute walk from his house. “You’ll be back home in time for New Year’s.”

But he can’t bring himself to agree, so he just nods, and holds her tightly in his arms, trying to convey all the thoughts he can’t put into words into the gesture.  _ I’m praying I’ll be back home by New Year’s, but it’s not where you’re thinking of _ , he squeezes his eyes shut, as if that’d help to block the image of his parents having to go through finding him missing, once again.  _ I hope you’ll understand that I don’t want to hurt you but this is what I need to do. _

“Get better soon,” his father says quietly, when his mother and him pull apart. Even before he had disappeared, they hadn’t been on the best of terms.  _ You need to pull your head out of the clouds _ , being the most common refrain in their conversations.  _ Stop playing around and start taking your life seriously.  _

(He wonders what his father would think, if he knew that his son had led a revolution against a despotic ruler.)

Minhyuk manages a lopsided smile. “I’ll call you.”

“We’ll be waiting for you,” is what his father says just as they are about to leave, and all that’s unspoken is loud and fills in the gaps between his words,  _ take as much time as you need, home will always be here for you. _

But Minhyuk knows there’s another family waiting for him too, their whale-song is singing in his veins, an incantation to find the way back, if only he could understand it.

-

“I believe your story, Minhyuk,” says the Headmaster, and the deep baritone of his voice surprises Minhyuk. Despite his boyish looks, his eyes blinking out behind round frames, the Headmaster commands an authoritative presence and Minhyuk can understand why his parents had agreed to letting Minhyuk house here while he sorted out his  _ personal issues _ , as they delicately phrased it. Even so, the Headmaster looks too young to be running an institution for troubled youth. He looks like he’s barely old enough to have mastered adulthood, much less help others with their own lives.

“I’m going to find a way back,” Minhyuk says firmly - because even as supportive as the Headmaster appears to be, he can never be too sure. He recalls the psychiatrist whom his parents had referred him to at the very start, and the sessions they had. How Dr Kim had encouraged Minhyuk to talk all about his adventures, how he seemed to understand what Minhyuk was talking about as he recounted breathlessly  _ I couldn’t even swim very well before, but I don’t know, everything just made sense, as if I was born to be there _ . Yet, despite the sympathetic listening and the gentle prompting and the promise that  _ yes, we will help you go back _ , the psychiatrist had eventually dismissed all of them as delusions. That Minhyuk came up with a fantasy to block out  _ whatever trauma which may have happened when had disappeared, most of what he says seems to just be a grand illusion. _

“Even if I have to jump into every pond or lake I see,” Minhyuk says because he needs to be sure. He needs to know that this hope dangling in front of him isn’t going to disappear once again. “Whatever it takes, I’m going to find my way back.”

“Of course you will,” the Headmaster replies calmly, sounding almost bored like he’s heard similar statements a million times before, as if it were perfectly reasonable for one of his charges to declare intentional drowning. It’s the lack of hesitation in his answer that wins Minhyuk over. “It is my hope that everyone who lives here finds a doorway that leads back to wherever they call home.”

_ Home _ \- that’s a word that his parents had avoided, when talking about where he had went. It kindles a spark of hope in his chest,  _ he understands.  _

“And what would you tell our parents?” Minhyuk asks, his heart in his mouth. 

The Headmaster only smiles, an unreadable smile that has Minhyuk wondering what secrets the elder may be hiding, “We’ll worry about that later, after your door appears.”

And for the first time in a long, long while, since he’s come back to this dimension, Minhyuk smiles - a real smile. “I’ll let you know when I do.”

-

It appears that there are more children and teenagers in Korea who go missing and find themselves tumbling into another world, only to get sent back, lost and confused, than Minhyuk could imagine. And it seems that most of them have found their way to the institution - at least, that’s what it appears to be, from the number of people he bumps into as the Headmaster leads him to his room. 

“Hope you don’t mind sharing,” the Headmaster says, his hand on the door knob. 

Minhyuk shrugs. 

Pre-disappearance Minhyuk was good with people - excellent, if he wasn’t being modest. But since coming back, it didn’t make sense starting friendships with people he was sure he was going to leave behind.

(Sometimes at night, when he has trouble falling asleep, which is too often to count, he’s drawn to the night-sky. Maybe it’s because the deep dark blue reminds him of the depths of what he’s lost. 

In moments like these, he can feel Bebe tugging on that gossamer thread that linked his heart and hers.  _ I’ll come back, just tell me how,  _ he begs, hands pressed almost in prayer for an answer.)

“Great,” the Headmaster smiles, knocks twice, and opens the door. 

The room isn’t as small as he expects - it fits two desks and two single beds comfortably, with a big window on the opposite wall, letting the sunlight stream in. On one of the beds sits a boy, with mousy brown hair, who looks up at their entrance, a book on his lap. There’s a guitar leaning against the wall next to his bed, and photographs tacked on the walls. “Kyun-hyung,” the boy greets, getting to his feet. 

“This is Minhyuk,” the Headmasters - Kyun? it strikes Minhyuk that he didn’t actually catch the Headmaster’s name when he had introduced himself earlier, says. “He’ll be rooming with you for a while.”

The boy nods in greeting to Minhyuk, bending down in a slight bow, “I’m Kihyun.”

“Minhyuk,” answers Minhyuk in reply, and cringes internally after since it’s completely unnecessary with the Headmaster’s introduction. Kihyun is watching him carefully, and Minhyuk looks away, slightly discomfited by his gaze. He tries again, “Nice to meet you.”

“Fun fact, you’re both November babies in the same year,” the Headmaster quips, a joking tone that catches Minhyuk by surprise just for its contrast with how serious the elder had been in their interaction before. “Ki’s almost a Scorpio, like you.”

Kihyun rolls his eyes, an action that speaks of such comfortable familiarity between the two that has Minhyuk wondering how they are related. “He’s in his astrology phase. Again.” 

The Headmaster only laughs. “You always wound me, Ki.”

“That’s why you keep me around,” the boy answers lazily, as he seats himself back on the bed, tucking his feet under him.

“That’s true,” the Headmaster agrees easily, as if this were a conversation they’ve had time and time again. “Be nice to Minhyuk. See you both at dinner.”

With those parting words, the Headmaster leaves the room, taking with him the warmth that arises from easy conversation between friends. It’s only now that it sinks in,  _ you’re stuck here until you find a way out, until you find a way back. _

And as the door closes gently behind him, despite the sky showing bright blue in the window in front of him, the room seems to shrink in size, the walls start to close in. His lungs feel like they are rejecting oxygen and Minhyuk find that he suddenly can’t take in another breath,  _ I don’t belong here, there’s no way I can stay here forever. _

“Hey, are you okay?” Kihyun asks from the other side of the room, getting to his feet, just as Minhyuk collapses to his knees with a soft thud,  _ I need to go Home. _ The boy is by his side, shaking him gently and the warmth of his palms helps Minhyuk take in a breath, then another. 

They stay like this, Kihyun rubbing circles on Minhyuk’s back as he remembers how to breathe on land. He doesn’t know how long the boy holds him, how many times Kihyun repeats quietly, “You’re alright, you’re going to be fine.”

It has to be long enough because when Minhyuk finally catches his breath again, there are long shadows on the floor, the sky turned a dusty pink.

Finally calm, Minhyuk can feel the full embarrassment of the situation weigh down on him, but he pulls on the memory of his past self to put on a charming smile, one that he knows used to win over the girls and boys in his school and get him out of trouble with his teachers when he showed up late for class. “Wow, I guess you made me breathless, huh?”

Kihyun scoffs and stands up so abruptly that Minhyuk almost tips over. “Is land of cheesy pick-up lines where you came from?”

“You believe I was somewhere else?” the words are out of Minhyuk’s mouth before he can stop them, and he winces at how hopeful he sounds. If the people here truly believe him, maybe they’d be able to help him find a way back. Bebe is waiting, it’s just a matter of time before he sees her, sees everyone again.

Not looking up from his book, Kihyun doesn’t even seem to notice. “Of course. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it.”

“Where are you from?” Minhyuk can’t help but ask, eyes wide. He feels breathless again but in a good way this time, in the way you feel right before you know an adventure is about to happen. 

“Nowhere,” Kihyun’s answer is flat and dull, but in Minhyuk’s excitement, it doesn’t quite register. 

“Is that what your Somewhere was called - Nowhere?” Minhyuk continues, relishing the feel of the capital S in the word  _ Somewhere _ . If Kihyun had readily believed that he had gone to another world so easily, then perhaps this institute was the real deal after all. That all the other students here would hear the capitalisation in Somewhere too, and know how important it is that their place had been validated. 

He takes a step towards Kihyun, and there are so many questions and thoughts bubbling in his head. There was never a reason to talk after he came back because no one believed, but here - here could be different. “The Headmaster says that everyone here has been to Somewhere before, that’s why they’re here.”

“Sure.”

“So you must have gone Somewhere too,” Minhyuk says, and another step takes him just an arm’s length away from Kihyun’s bed. Perhaps they could trade stories of the adventures they’ve had. Minhyuk doesn’t know what sort of land Nowhere would be like, but he’s sure Kihyun has tons of tales to share.

“I told you,” Kihyun starts, and although he says this evenly, Minhyuk realises he’s made a mistake. It’s only now that Minhyuk notices how tightly the boy is gripping his book, how his knuckles are white. Kihyun locks eyes with him, and Minhyuk startles at the intensity of emotion (is it hatred? anger?) in his eyes. “I didn’t go anywhere.”

“Right, I - I’m sorry for prying,” Minhyuk stutters out eventually, under the heat of Kihyun’s gaze. He trips over his feet, and it’s only when he returns to his side of the room that Kihyun looks away. 

They spend the rest of the day in silence, Minhyuk chancing occasional peeks at his new room-mate, as he’s unpacking his luggage, trying to figure out what he’s thinking. If he notices, Kihyun doesn’t say anything, immersed in the book he’s reading - although the fact that Kihyun barely seems to flip the pages makes Minhyuk think that the boy is as distracted as he is.

Even so, still smarting from the exchange, Minhyuk keeps to himself at dinner, and is thankful for the Headmaster not drawing attention to him, even if he does attract a few curious glances from the other students around. There’ll be plenty of time to get to know them, and the snatches of conversation that swirl around him  _ I thought I saw a path today, it shimmered in the woods but by the time I got there, it was gone  _ serve to fan the spark of hope in his chest that the institute will help him find a way home, somehow.

Kihyun is so quiet that when it’s finally time to go to bed, Minhyuk almost jumps out of his skin when the boy says, “Night.” before flicking off the lamp on his side of the room.

“Goodnight Kihyun,” Minhyuk calls back, after his heart has finally calmed down, as he switches his lamp off too. 

Perhaps it’s creepy but Minhyuk turns to his side to face Kihyun, the boy looks calmer and gentler in his sleep. And the question that Minhyuk has been trying to ignore the whole day finally bubbles to the surface:  _ If you didn’t go anywhere, why are you here? _

-

The next day, Minhyuk is awoken by gentle knocking on the door. Blearily, he opens his eyes, and is greeted by the sight of the Headmaster standing over his bed, peering over him. Kihyun is back cross-legged on his bed, and from the way he’s flipping through a book (a thin A4-sized book, this time), looks like he’s been awake for a while. Figures that he’d be a morning person, he looks exactly like the type.

(For the first time since he’d returned, Minhyuk had managed to sleep through the night. He dreamt, of course, about Water Way, the deep waters of his home, swimming side by side with Bebe. 

But he had also dreamt of his parents, of the times before he had disappeared. They weren’t doing anything special, it was just another regular family dinner on a Wednesday night. In his usual fashion, his father hadn’t said much, while his mother chattered on in the background about her day at work, but was careful to pick out any strands of cucumber in his serving of bulgogi beef - which didn’t make sense because his mother stopped cooking with cucumber but hey, dream logic - before he had passed it to Minhyuk.)

“Good morning Minhyuk,” the Headmaster chirps, and takes a step back as Minhyuk sits up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “I thought I’d show you to your first session today.”

Minhyuk chokes on air, mid-yawn, “Session?”

“I’ll see you outside your room again in 15 minutes,” the Headmaster continues, as if Minhyuk hadn’t said anything. He gives a cheery wave and ducks out of the room, and Minhyuk is still staring at the space he was at, trying to process what he had said. Perhaps he should have paid much, much more attention to whatever his parents had been saying about the institution when they had signed him up, but truthfully, he had tuned it all out. 

“Kyun-hyung isn’t very punctual most of the time, but you’ve already spent 5 minutes staring into space,” Kihyun calls from across the room, jolting Minhyuk out of his open-mouthed stupor. He dabs at the corner of his mouth, and sure enough, there’s drool at the corner of his mouth, which he hopes his room-mate didn’t notice. He doubts it, even knowing Kihyun for less than a day, he’s sure his room-mate notices everything.

Minhyuk jumps out of his bed, rummaging through his wardrobe for a fresh t-shirt and jeans to change into. What does one wear to a Session? What even was a Session? His hand lingers as he pulls out a dark blue shirt. If it was anything similar to what he had gone through with Dr Kim, he’s not so sure about the institute anymore. 

“Don’t worry so much,” Kihyun says, surprisingly gentle. “Wonho-hyung is pretty nice.”

“What?” Minhyuk turns around, and Kihyun is looking straight at him. The book is open on his lap, and Minhyuk finally notices that the book’s actually made of music scores instead. That explains the guitar next to his bed, and Minhyuk realises there’s a camera resting on Kihyun’s desk as well. He must have taken the photos stuck on his wall. Perhaps his land was one where everyone was really artistic and talented, and Minhyuk opens his mouth to ask.

“Were you even listening to hyung’s orientation yesterday? He’ll be sad, you know, he puts a lot of effort into his slides,” Kihyun interrupts before he can get the question out, there's a tinge of amusement in his words but his face remains expressionless. Minhyuk can’t tell if he’s mocking him or being genuine in his statement, but does have a vague recollection of the Headmaster going through some rather artfully done Powerpoint slides the day before. “The Sessions are for students to share about where they were from. You’re supposed to go for three every week, apart from normal classes.”

“Classes?”

Kihyun raises an eyebrow. It’s such a sharp, smooth motion that Minhyuk is convinced he’s practiced in the mirror to perfect the action, “You didn’t think you’d escape from actual school work, did you?”

“Well,” Minhyuk starts sheepishly, because that’s exactly what he’d thought would be happening. Wasn’t the whole point of being in the institute so that he could avoid the real world with all its trappings? Studying for a university degree certainly seemed like it was something that people who intended to  _ stay _ in the real world would do, rather than those looking for a way back to their real dimension. “Kind of.”

"Even if he is going to help you find your way home, Kyun-hyung still needs to account to your parents somehow,” says Kihyun, in such a matter-of-fact way it makes Minhyuk feel about the size of a plankton - and not even the cute curious kind in the oceans of Water Way that released glitter when they're excited and made the sea a beautiful rainbow against the daytime sky.

His ears heating up in embarrassment, Minhyuk spins around to face his wardrobe so that he can change into the fresh shirt he’s picked out; and more importantly, ignore the way that Kihyun is still looking at him. “No peeking!”

“Don’t worry,” scoffs Kihyun, and the direction of his voice tells Minhyuk that he’s already turned his attention back to the book on his lap. “I wouldn't dream of it.”

-

“I’m Minhyuk, I’ll be 19 this November,” Minhyuk tugs nervously at a stray thread on his sleeve. There are 5 other students sitting around in a circle with him, with Wonho (“Hyung will do, we are all friends here,” the teacher had laughed when Minhyuk had stumbled at first, trying to figure out how exactly to address him - is he his teacher? Or is he his doctor? Or?) sitting directly opposite him. The student next to him has somehow, impossibly, managed to curl his long limbs around a pillow he’s brought along, and seems to be asleep. Yet, Wonho doesn’t seem to mind the student’s gentle snoring.

In fact, Wonho doesn’t look like how Minhyuk had imagined a teacher to look like, certainly a far cry from how Dr Kim looked like. However, despite the kind welcoming smile on Wonho’s face and Kihyun’s unexpected ressurances as he was rushing out of his room that _whatever you may think of psychiatrists before coming here, you don’t have to worry, Wonho-hyung is nothing like that, so you don’t have to worry,_ Minhyuk is still nervous and that leaves him tongue-tied. “That’s about it, I guess.”

“Welcome Minhyuk,” says Wonho so warmly that Minhyuk almost imagines a tiny Sun burning in the centre of the otherwise very threatening looking male. He’s sure that if Wonho wanted to, he could probably crack open Minhyuk’s head between his biceps without even really trying, without breaking a sweat even. Minyuk’s very sure, that there are killer whale guards in Water Way that would swim the other way if they saw Wonho in the water coming towards them. Yet with that friendly sparkle in his eyes and the pure sincerity he pronounces in every word, he’s less intimidated by Wonho than he is of, well, Kihyun. 

It’s funny how people don’t seem the way they first appear here.

“This is Minhyuk’s second day at the Home,” Wonho says, addressing the rest of the students in the circle. “So make sure to look out for him and to help him along.”

It’s only his second day here, and Minhyuk is already convinced that he would die for Wonho.

-

Kihyun is smirking when Minhyuk returns, dazed from the one and a half hours spent in his first Session. 

The rest of the Session had gone pretty unremarkably, the rest of the students shared about what they had been doing for the past week, the little ways in which they were trying to find a pathway back home. Almost everyone had been forthcoming in sharing about their worlds, telling the stories of their adventures and conquests and mystical lands. Minhyuk understands, kind of, the power and relief that comes from having an audience that believes in your tale, that someone is rooting for to you find a path home.

Nothing seemed to faze Wonho - not even when one of the students, Jungkook, Minhyuk thinks his name was, said that he thought that the doorway back to his land was through fire. “Just be careful none of the other students are around when you try,” is all Wonho had said, which Minhyuk is pretty sure shouldn’t be the normal reaction to a minor planning arson. “I don’t think Changkyun would be too happy if the fire department came by again.”

“What did you think of Wonho-hyung?” Kihyun asks, breaking through the mess of thoughts jumbled up in Minhyuk’s head. Kihyun looks so smug that Minhyuk just knows that Kihyun already knows that he’s head over heels for Wonho. 

“He’s alright,” Minhyuk says, shrugging in what he thinks is an extremely casual way. He flops down on his bed.

“You don’t have to lie to yourself. Everyone here goes through that phase.”

“What phase?” Minhyuk can’t help but ask, turning over to his side to face Kihyun. He wonders if his room mate has just been in their room the whole day, he’s still in the same set of clothes he saw him in in the morning.

“Where they would do anything for hyung,” says Kihyun, the smirk still on his face.

“Right.” Minhyuk turns back, tucking his heads behind his head to look at the ceiling.  _ Our next Session will be on Thursday. If you like, you can tell us more about where you came from the next time we meet. Your story is yours to tell, _ Wonho had pulled Minhyuk aside at the end of the Session,  _ anytime you’re ready to share, we will be here to listen.  _ Coming from anyone else, his words would have sounded false.

“There really isn’t anyone like him,” Kihyun suddenly says from across the room. There’s something in the way he says it that makes Minhyuk want to turn back and look at his room mate again.

Instead, Minhyuk just answers, the question _ why are you here? _   runs bold and bright in his mind, “Yea, there really isn’t.”

-

On the bright side, classes aren’t as tedious as Minhyuk had expected them to be. 

“I would think marine biology would be good pick, huh?” asks the Headmaster gesturing at a course catalogue on his computer screen, when he calls Minhyuk to his office to sort out his schedule. It’s his fourth day, and Minhyuk supposes the Headmaster had been giving him some time to settle in, because the first Session with Wonho was the only mandatory school event he had been scheduled to go for. 

In an unexpectedly generous fashion, Kihyun had offered to show Minhyuk around the school compound the day before. “It’s better than hearing you slump around in bed whining about having nothing to do,” he had said. They had spent the good part of the day walking around, not saying anything of much consequence to each other after Minhyuk had asked  _ so really, where are you from? _ and Kihyun had shut him down once again with a sharp  _ Mind your own business _ .

Minhyuk blinks, as a picture of a blue whale appears on the screen. His breath hitches. Sure, since he’d returned, he had spent hours diving into all sorts of wildlife photography websites, trying to soak in as any photographs and videos of anything that looked remotely close to the home he had left. Still, this blue whale frozen on the screen was nothing like Bebe.

Majestic, beautiful, graceful Bebe. She had been by his side almost as soon as he had entered Water Way, after the Couple took him out to the sea again to determine if truly was the Drowned Boy.  _ Sing anything that comes to your heart _ , the Wife had said, as they stood by the beach, but she needn’t have said anything because Minhyuk already knew the song to call Bebe to him.

Minhyuk dabs hastily at his eyes, and the Headmaster is kind enough not to comment if he had noticed. “Yea,” he says, grateful that his voice doesn’t crack. “That way I wouldn’t really need to study anyway.”

The Headmaster laughs, a boyish sound that even in Minhyuk’s nostalgia has him curious about how old the Headmaster actually is (in fact, has him curious about everything about the Headmaster and where he’s been), “You make a good point.”

“As a Headmaster, shouldn’t you want me to study hard or something?” Minhyuk asks, frowning.

“I also shouldn’t be hoping that my charges eventually disappear, and yet, I do,” the Headmaster answers with a tinge of amusement. His attention is turned to the computer, pulling out the right forms which Minhyuk has to complete in order to enrol in the university course. He motions for Minhyuk to come over and fill in his details.

Minhyuk huffs, “You and Kihyun are equally frustrating.”

“I suppose it runs in the family.” 

“Wait, you’re related?” Minhyuk looks up from the computer screen, his eyes wide.

“Everyone is related, you just need to find the right grammar to link the subjects together.”

“Is that why Kihyun is staying here, even though he says he hasn’t been Anywhere?” Minhyuk asks, he doesn’t mean to sound as excited as he does. His parents had always said that he was a little too nosy for his own good (which, he supposes, is how he’d ended up tumbling into Water Way in the first place).

“Like I said when you first came, everyone here as a story,” For the first time in the conversation, the Headmaster sounds less jovial, and it’s enough to make Minhyuk pause before asking anything more. “But it is their own story to tell.”

(As much as he wants to, Minhyuk doesn’t ask Kihyun about the Headmaster that night. 

It can’t be much of a secret though, that the two are related, not with the way Kihyun calls him  _ Kyun-hyung  _ with such casual familiarity when all the other students address him as Headmaster or Changkyun. 

Even so, for the millionth time since he met Kihyun, he has to wonder, even in an institute where faraway worlds and unbelievable adventures are a dime in a dozen, what secrets Kihyun are hiding.)

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading, and do let me know what you think! 
> 
> come talk to me on twitter at [legofroggo](https://twitter.com/legofroggo). have a lovely day!


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